Nicolas Auzanneau

Nicolas Auzanneau has been connected to Latvia since 1996 when he came here after completing his studies to work for the Cultural department of the French embassy. In 1997, translator and publisher Inta Geile brought him onto work on a Latvian literature anthology in French, followed by a selection of short stories by Ēriks Adamsons. For many years, translating literature was nothing more than a hobby, but since 2014 it has become his main activity. He translates both Latvian classics and contemporary authors from all genres – prose, poetry, theatre, but also non-fiction, history, and the social sciences. In recent years, he published translations in French of Rainis’s Castagnola, Jānis Joņevs’s Jelgava 94 (Metal in French), short stories from Andra Neiburga and Juris Zvirgzdiņš, and some poems. He is currently working on translations of Jānis Veselis’s novel Dienas krusts (The Day of the Cross) and Rūdolfs Blaumanis’s famous play Skroderdienas Silmačos (The Tailor’s Days in the House of Silmači) and is looking forward to someday publishing an anthology of Latvian modern poetry. His blog latviski > franciska is dedicated to the translation of Latvian literature into French.